"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom." - Thomas Paine, "Common Sense," 1776
Fifty-six years ago this month, we became the first and only nation to use nuclear weapons in warfare.
The world was told that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were justified in order to bring a swift end to the war without a costly and bloody invasion of Japan's home islands.
This, to put it charitably, was a lie.
No less an authority than General Dwight Eisenhower has stated unequivocally: "It wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing. "Yet millions of Americans still believe what they were told in August of 1945, well before the experience of being regularly deceived by our government became commonplace.
As we saw with the controversies surrounding the 50th anniversary exhibition at the Smithsonian, many are outraged by anyone who agrees with Eisenhower's views.
But Eisenhower was hardly alone at the time. President Truman's top military advisors were virtually unanimous in their belief that the atomic bombs were not needed to end the war without an invasion.
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4 comments:
It was a long time ago. Give it up.
It only lessens the outrage at Bush's lies.
That is just my opinion.
I could be wrong.
The bomb was dropped to test it. The US didn't even know what it could do. It was a human experiment.
From what I have read, we did ignore repeatedly, the Japanese Government's overtures to end the war. Their main concern was that they be able to keep their emperor. We insisted on unconditional surrender. The irony is, in the end, we didn't prosecute him, and he remained so. Eisenhower was correct.
Punch, you know I am no fan of Bushshithead, but I have to ask you...would you apply this principal to Nazi war crimes? Read Hiroshima, by John Hersey. No people should have been subjected to this horror...and it made us no better than the Japanese butchers of Nanking. Just sayin'.
I do not disagree with either of you. My point is this.
As long as they (whoever they are) can get everyone talking 'bout something that happened 50 years ago, it makes it distant and beyond our control. We must stay focused on the current lies. Ok ok We Should stay... blah blah blah.
BTW Eisenhower warned up about the military industral complex. When is the last time you heard about that.
Hell, we are fucking contractin' out war. War for profit! And, and we, guys like us, are still talking about some fucking bomb 50 years ago. It's hiv, aids, swine flu, bird flu, etc. Fuck the bomb.
Well, that is just my opinion i could be wrong.
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